I am not sure if you talk about Holy or Storm, but I guess we do talk about Storm here.

About Alice:

I've looked into your objection and put down a detailed list on why I can't put Alice into S Tier, but rahter in A. I've added my Eidolon's level, and some comments. This is for Storm build.

Smol comments:

Overall I still think choosing an Eidolon is personal preferece. It is wise to put the skills, accs, element, ult and also if the eido is ranged or melee (ranged ones tend to die less) on a table like this. That way you can check for yourself which is the best for your needs.

The dual drive of Diao is worth alot. That's why I personally think it is the best Eidolon skill in the whole game. (After this would probably come the Noc effects and the DMG against Dark skill of Michaela)

For Storm build, having a Storm Eidolon is amazing. Depending on playstyle ofc, but I actually use the eidolon ulti a lot to dodge immbolizing etc.

I've put Alice's element as A tier, but I wasn't sure how to judge that. Any other element than Storm is lower than S tier. So every other element would have been A (worse than S) too.

(I can only upload 10 attatchments, so I uploaded the Alice pictures on imgur)

For some people these stats are important too:

(Keep in mind that party buffs, the eidolons accessories, your own buffs you give the party as bard, and other party members buffs are counted in those stats. I've took all these pictures with a lvl 106 Shuri party buff)

*

Alice

Stats

Alice(lvl 67, 3 Star)

Yumikaze(lvl 67, 3 Star)

Diao Chan(lvl 80, 4 star)

(ofc the stats of both others would change drastically too, if they would have more accessories, would be lvl 80 and 4-Star)

I hope that kinda makes it more understandable how I build up my tierlist on the Eido-recommendation.

About the skill animations:

I didn't put any of those in the guide, I noted it down to maybe at it later to the guild. (smol edit to this: in near future with the next class balance the animation time of Stormsong will be changed, so I am not sure if it's nessecary to put it in the guide. My idea is to wait till we got the change and then add it, if it's still viable)